Rich Rodriguez defended himself in a passionate note posted on Twitter Tuesday night, an hour after the University of Arizona fired him as their head football coach.
In his note, Rodriguez said he was “deeply disappointed” by Arizona’s choice to buy him out of his contract. He also emphasized that Arizona’s investigation into an alleged harassment claim from his former administrative assistant found no wrongdoing. However, he did publicly admit to having an extramarital affair in the past.
Here’s a look at the note, which Rodriguez has since deleted from his personal Twitter account:
In a statement emailed to @usatodaysports, Rich Rodriguez admits to extramarital affair but disputes the allegations of sexual harassment pic.twitter.com/UT07HcfxEU
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) January 3, 2018
The purpose of the note seems to be two-fold.
1) Rodriguez is clearly trying to fight the label of being a sexual harasser. Citing that the investigation found no misconduct and that he voluntarily passed a polygraph helps his reputation, which is taking a big hit due to the lawsuit.
2) He is trying to get ahead of the adultery story. He says the extramarital affair was mentioned in the former employee’s claim. This is Rodriguez’s way of addressing that before it comes out later.
Rodriguez was already on the hot seat following a 3-9 season in 2016, but he seemed to have Arizona turned around and back on track in 2017 before losing to Purdue to finish 7-6. The combination of on-field performance and the negative attention due to the legal claim are enough for Arizona to want to part ways with their coach since 2012.
Though he was cleared by a lawfirm’s investigation into the claims, Rodriguez will still have a hard time finding another prominent job while he’s tied to these allegations.
